


Led Me Here

by rivlee



Series: Gone Are All The Days [29]
Category: The Pacific - Fandom
Genre: Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, First Kiss, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-03-23
Updated: 2014-03-23
Packaged: 2018-01-16 18:58:56
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 993
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1358368
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/rivlee/pseuds/rivlee
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Merl-Francis does some thinking and finally takes action.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Led Me Here

**Author's Note:**

  * For [amorekay](https://archiveofourown.org/users/amorekay/gifts).



> Follows _With a Little Peace and Some Harmony_.

Merl-Francis always knew family came in all different types. He had his blood, he had his bonds, he had his Marine brothers and sisters, and he had his paramedic crew. He’d declared kin ties on everything from raccoons to gators to those damn Philly boys, but sometimes there were those rare folks that just meant more. In all his years, Merl-Francis had three of those people in his life. The first came to him young, what with Gene-Baptiste being the other side of his ornery coin. The second came with Burgie, who never stopped caring no matter how hard Merriell tried to bait him. Burgie was as solid as they came, and his friendship and loyalty meant more to Merl-Francis than he’d ever tell. The third—everyone knew who the third turned out to be.

Eugene Sledge was a rich doctor’s baby boy from Alabama. He looked delicate even after surviving basic training and the invasion of more than one Middle Eastern country. He always looked dignified though, like some old-timey professor. Even with sun-blistered cheeks and chapped lips, red hair gone dark and drenched with sweat, Eugene Sledge managed to be that perfect choir boy. There was more to him than that image of course, a wicked temper hidden behind buttoned-up collars and Sunday best pressed slacks. Sledgehammer had a loneliness to him even before the war left its gaping wounds, and Merl-Francis? Well, he understood that more than most. 

When they got back home and out of the war, Merl-Francis didn’t drop out of contact because of lack of interest. Some would say he had enough arrogance to fill up the swamp, but it was hard to hold a high self-worth when he’d driven past the house Eugene grew up in, saw the wide driveways and the multiple cars, the wrap around porch and the clear message of old money. It all felt so far removed from the Sledgehammer Merl-Francis fell for, the one who met taunt-for-taunt, challenge-for-challenge. He couldn’t imagine Mrs. Papa Doctor Sledge looking kindly on a man like Snafu cuddling up to her pride and joy, so he’d turned tail back around and let himself wait it out for the right time.

He needed home field advantage for whatever came next. 

Babe Heffron was a meddler, and Merl-Francis suspected as much after he first met him, but his heart was always in the right place. He was the one who took the final step to bridge the gap between what Snafu and Sledgehammer _were_ and what Merl-Francis and Eugene had the potential to _become_. It still took them a handful of fumbling years getting to learn each other over again before they got to this place, right now, curled up side by side in the backseat of Hillbilly’s Ford Explorer on a drive home from Texas. 

Before they left Eugene confessed he wanted to know Merl-Francis, or what he thought was the gentle boy who came before the man made by war. Merl-Francis had no problem sharing that part of his past, even if it wasn’t quite his own story to tell, but Eugene also knew the parts of him that he’d only shared with the other men from K Company. For any chance at a future beyond an intense friendship, Merl-Francis knew he had to let down some of his own walls. It was one of the most terrifying things he’d ever done in his life.

He remembered Paw-Paw Roe telling him ages ago that love was never a weakness, but that was a hard thing to grasp on when Eugene was around plenty of proper society boys who could give him the world. 

_“You know, I don’t think he wants the world_ ,” Babe Heffron had told him during one of their early morning talks. _“I just think he really wants you. You’ve got to ask yourself if you’re ready to give him that. He knows your faults, Shelton. Let him see your graces.”_

“You having a nightmare?” Eugene asked. He tilted his head up from where it rested on Merl-Francis’ shoulder and studied him through the passing lights of the highway. “Your heart’s racing, Snaf.”

The truck’s cabin was filled with the sounds of tires on pavement, the low music coming through the speakers, and the soothing sounds of Hillbilly singing along, but all Merl-Francis could hear was the _thump-thump-thump_ of his own heartbeat and the rushing of blood in his ears. 

This was it.

Eugene tasted of cinnamon and tea, the dregs of their last pit-stop. He smelled like cheap bathroom soap and stale sweat from a too long car ride. His hair was soft, silky under Merl-Francis’ fingers as he tried to get closer, following Merl-Francis’ lead and giving for every take. 

“Fucking seatbelts,” Merl-Francis muttered as the cloth suddenly cut across his chest.

“Boys, don’t make me pull this car over,” Hillbilly teased from the front. “Though I suppose congratulations are in order for both of you finally pulling your heads out of your asses.”

Merl-Francis could feel the heat under Eugene’s skin as he ducked his head and laughed into the tempting curve of Eugene’s throat. 

“Your usual perfect timing there, Snafu,” Eugene murmured, voice pitched low as his fingers tightened over Merl-Francis’ own. “You gonna rabbit after this?”

“Got no plans to,” he said.

“Good,” Eugene said. He took Merl-Francis’ lips and swallowed down a soft groan as his thumb rested against the curve of Merl-Francis’ cheek. 

Darius Rucker’s _This_ suddenly sounded loud through the car as Hillbilly pointedly coughed from the front. “I’m just going to turn this music up louder and pretend you’re both having very interesting dreams that I know nothing about and have never experienced. For all I know you two are trying to suffocate each other back there.”

Merl-Francis had never really laughed before while kissing someone that wasn’t family. It felt good; he liked it, that taste of Eugene’s happiness lingering in his own mouth.


End file.
